


morning bird

by milkdaze (flowerstems)



Series: queen of hearts [4]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 09:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5452472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerstems/pseuds/milkdaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wings sprout right out of her back, one day, when she’s crying and pounding her fists into the forest floor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	morning bird

The wings sprout right out of her back, one day, when she’s crying and pounding her fists into the forest floor.

Kendra was eight, bones small and fragile in the cage of her body, too small to do anything, to protect anything, even the little frogs and the flowers. In her rage, with all the intensity of an eight-year-old, she screams at the grass, the trees, no one in particular, and that’s when it happens.

It’s instantaneous, it feels like her shoulder blades are suddenly too sharp under her skin. They push and prod until they tear through her skin and her clothes, scream of rage mingling with pain and she’s crying on the forest floor. She’s curled up, face and hands and knees pressed into the grass and the dirt, and there are wings, wide and brown and three sizes too long for her body, pushing their way into the world and making her their home.

She’s confused and she grabs at them, tugging at feathers and hissing in pain, and she doesn’t know what to do. She wants them to go away.

When she’s tired of crying and punching and screaming and tugging, Kendra just lays face-first in the grass, red-nosed and teary-eyed, and the wings slowly fold themselves around her. She falls asleep there, in the middle of the clearing, and when she wakes up the wings are gone, but her clothes are still torn and muddy.

Kendra runs home and tells her mother who picks feathers out of her hair, washes her muddied fists and says, “Sweetie, let me show you something.”

Her mother has wings, too. They’re big, bigger than Kendra’s, shades of blue and grey, and she teaches her how to control her wings, how to use them, and how to not be afraid or ashamed.

It takes years.

 

* * *

 

Kendra can fly, but barely. She’s sixteen and she needs a running start, she can’t just take off the way her mother can, and she can’t land without crashing either.

This morning is just like any other. Kendra gets a running start and when she jumps she feels good about this attempt. She glides through the air like she was meant for it, finally, but she’s low to the ground and she’s not alone this morning.

There’s a girl, a small blonde, maybe her age, lying down in a clearing in the woods and staring up at the sky, and when she sees Kendra she gets up so quickly she ends up stumbling and falling down.

Kendra was just as surprised, she didn’t expect anyone would be out here so early; the distraction costs her momentum and she falls out of the sky like a comet, crashing through tree branches and landing painfully in some bushes.

The twigs are the most annoying part of it and by the time she crawls out of the bushes and plucks most of the twigs out of her hair and wings, that blonde girl from before has found her and is staring, mouth slightly agape.

Kendra’s wings flap, shaking some leaves out of her feather, and the girl blurts, “Oh my god, are you okay, you just crash-landed—”

“It’s okay, I’m fine,” Kendra interrupts, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. “I usually crash-land,” she adds with a grin, surprised the girl is even talking to her.

“Really? You looked amazing up there,” she responds, breathless, and Kendra doesn’t know if it’s because of the wings or because she ran all the way here.

Either way, she’s not sure how to respond to the compliment, “Uh, thank you. But I wasn’t so amazing when I crashed.”

“But you got up.” The girl is looking at her, eyes wide, smile seemingly permanent on her face, and she walks closer, “I’m Sara.”

“Kendra,” she responds, “nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” and Sara’s eyes are still wide in awe.

Kendra just smiles at her. “Um. Want to see me practice?” Sara nods excitedly in response.

Sara, Kendra discovers, goes to her school. Sara likes spicy food, but not as much as her sister, Laurel, she hopes to study medicine at the community college, and she feels like a black sheep more often than not. Kendra thinks she knows the feeling.

 

* * *

 

Kendra is nineteen, and Sara is watching her, when she finally learns to fly.

She gets a running start, glances at Sara and sees her looking on with her palms pressed together and her eyes wide in anticipation, and when she jumps she glides into the air, right through the morning sunlight, and she can hear Sara’s cheering as though she were the one flying.

That afternoon she takes Sara home and introduces her to her mother. They’re both nervous, and Sara’s biting the inside of her cheek because she thinks no one will notice, but Kendra’s mother just looks at her and smiles.

“Come on in, dear.”

 

* * *

 

Kendra is twenty-four and she’s not sure about much in her life, she’s not sure what career she wants, or how many shades of brown her feathers are (Sara insists they’re brown, gold, and every shade in between, but Kendra’s sure that’s just all sorts of brown), but she’s sure that her mother loves her, and that Sara loves her.

It’s been eight years and Kendra was sure Sara was only interested in her because of her wings, an idea that Sara flat out says is wrong.

“Your wings are amazing, sure,” Sara says, rubbing her fingers over the sore spot between Kendra’s shoulder blades, “I mean, you’re right out of a fairy tale.” Kendra furrows her brow and Sara laughs, “ _But_ , you’re amazing, too. Do you think your wings outshine you?”

“In your eyes? Sometimes I worry about that, yes.” Sara smacks the spot between her shoulders and Kendra hisses a laugh.

“Your feathers are beautiful, but that’s because they’re attached to you.”

Kendra smiles and quirks a brow, “Is that supposed to reassure me?”

“Yes, it is.” Sara laughs and wraps her arms around Kendra’s neck, rubbing her back gently and pulling her in for a kiss. “Even without your wings, you’re amazing.” And Kendra believes every word she’s saying because Sara is looking at her, eyes glittering, mouth curved like Cupid’s bow, and Kendra dares to think she’s in love.

“You didn’t even need wings to get my attention,” Kendra says, squeezing Sara’s bicep and smiling, “you’re just so damn special.”

“Remember, I fell for you in that instant,” Sara jokes and Kendra laughs and kisses her, wrapping her arms around her waist, revelling in the way Sara fits so warm against her.

“Good thing I’m here to catch you this time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Does Kendra count as 'The Flash' or 'DC's Legends of Tomorrow' or both or all I'm confused.  
> Flarrow femslash week-Thursday: Favorite Crossover Ship AND/OR Magic/Fantasy AU


End file.
